What do YOU think?
― N., Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― helenfordsdale, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― dave q, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andrew L, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Geoff the, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fritz, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― DG, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― RickyT, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I'd get the oral sex first and then write the song after...
― electric sound of jim, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Still classic though.
― Ben Squircle, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Since this LP doesn't mark any kind of a departure for Cohen, I wonder how he can be classic but this record shite? I say it's real good, and fits comfortably in with the rest of his catalog.
― Sean, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 29 May 2003 07:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:06 (twenty years ago) link
― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:11 (twenty years ago) link
It goes like this/the fourth, the fifth
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:19 (twenty years ago) link
first few albums is classicz, sez I. "The Partisian" is fucking badass, even when 16 Horsepower covered it.
after all that, it gets a bit dodgy. the man should never have been introduced to the synthesizer. and "Don't Go Home With..." is a classic example whenever one needs to explain the concept of "overproduction" to a neophyte.
the funny bit: i got into the guy after hearing the snippet of "If It Be Your Will" that's played in "Pump Up the Volume".
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Affectian (Affectian), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 9 January 2004 21:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 9 January 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 January 2004 21:55 (twenty years ago) link
Oh, CLASSIC btw, especially the first decade or so.
― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Friday, 9 January 2004 22:16 (twenty years ago) link
― o. nate (onate), Friday, 9 January 2004 22:49 (twenty years ago) link
― anode, Friday, 9 January 2004 23:15 (twenty years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 10 January 2004 00:14 (twenty years ago) link
Suzanne is exempt from this, though. It's always great.
― cis (cis), Saturday, 10 January 2004 00:22 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 10 January 2004 05:28 (twenty years ago) link
my fave is typically whatever i'm listening to at the point but i tend to listen to "love and hate" and "new skin" most of all
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:58 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 10 January 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 10 January 2004 18:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Saturday, 10 January 2004 20:59 (twenty years ago) link
The lyrics to Avalanche are sheer genius. Ditto fer Dress Rehearsal Rag, Susanne, Lady Midnight and Story Of Isaasc. He totally fuckin' rocks dude.
Also other great songwriters seem pretty inconcise or repetitive compared to Lenny the Great.
The arrangements are good to. The eighties stuff is kinda weird. Although Tower of Song has a nice production effect. At least he didn't go techno.
― Casper, Thursday, 1 July 2004 05:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 1 July 2004 07:26 (nineteen years ago) link
-- Leonard Cohen, Rolling Stone interview 2003.
― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 9 June 2005 23:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Saturday, 23 July 2005 22:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Palomino (Palomino), Saturday, 23 July 2005 22:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― AaronK (AaronK), Sunday, 24 July 2005 04:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― stet (stet), Friday, 19 August 2005 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link
all-time classic, no doubt.
― barbarian cities (jaybob3005), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 10:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― corey c (shock of daylight), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adam Harrison-Friday, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 19:04 (eighteen years ago) link
The ladyfriend is watching The Backwoods on TV now, which features a number of songs by Leonard (also features Gary Oldman...).
Got me back in the mood for him again.
― FTWWW (PappaWheelie V), Saturday, 14 February 2009 20:55 (fifteen years ago) link
I had the honor of interviewing him many years ago and what stuck out beyond his modesty was how when I transcribed the tape it read like third draft English. He spoke so eloquently and with a natural poetry. It didn't feel like a put on. He wasn't trying to be something or putting on airs (is that the right use of that word?). He was generous and really made it hard for me to interview a 20-something year old hipster after that without thinking, "listen, dude, you can't be giving me this much attitude if a man of LC's accomplishment can treat people with greater respect."
― smurfherder, Saturday, 14 February 2009 22:13 (fifteen years ago) link
jazz police amazing
― conrad, Sunday, 15 February 2009 00:10 (fifteen years ago) link
I had the honor of interviewing him many years ago and what stuck out beyond his modesty was how when I transcribed the tape it read like third draft English. He spoke so eloquently and with a natural poetry.
― schlump, Sunday, 15 February 2009 01:24 (fifteen years ago) link
When I see questions like this I always think of the Steve Wright gag: 'I got a tape for my car, Best of Music. I only like the first side.'Is there really anyone out there for whom Len is on side 2 of that tape?
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Sunday, 15 February 2009 20:19 (fifteen years ago) link
he just played a 3 1/2 hour show, pretty epic
― fucken cumlord (omar little), Sunday, 12 April 2009 07:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Love his music but it always bums me out when smart people fall for gurus.
― thirdalternative, Sunday, 12 April 2009 13:42 (fifteen years ago) link
He's a Buddhist monk. That hardly makes him the follower of some wacky new age guru.
Classic, of course. I'm Your Man is my favourite. I think Jazz Police is really funny. Great Thelonius Monk as derange cocktail bar pianist solo too.
Beautiful Losers is far and away the best novel ever written by a rock musician. Granted, the competition isn't exactly fierce, so let's put it another way: it's one of the best transgressive novels of the 1960s, up there with Burroughs, Trocchi, Baldwin et al and a great piece of postmodern fiction too.
― Stew, Sunday, 12 April 2009 15:14 (fifteen years ago) link
This thread SUCKS
― Hadrian VIII, Sunday, 12 April 2009 15:54 (fifteen years ago) link
uh, yeah.
leonard cohen is basically god. so there.
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 31 July 2010 01:46 (thirteen years ago) link
oh man, confession time...i've tried really hard, but makes my skin crawl....someone direct me to something to change my mind
― iago g., Saturday, 31 July 2010 01:49 (thirteen years ago) link
iago how much do you care about lyrics? I can't imagine anybody feeling more than "that's pleasant" about any LC unless they are very into lyrics.
― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Saturday, 31 July 2010 02:03 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i haven't sit down and focused, just put it on and did other stuff...always figured the way in was the words.
― iago g., Saturday, 31 July 2010 02:06 (thirteen years ago) link
is it early stuff you've heard or later stuff? because I always kinda liked his so-called classic early stuff, but it wasn't til I dug into the 80s albums that I became convinced of his genius.
― tylerw, Saturday, 31 July 2010 03:39 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah I mean Leonard Cohen is specifically for people who are listening for the lyrics. The music can be quite compelling but it's only in the context of the lyrics.
― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Saturday, 31 July 2010 04:21 (thirteen years ago) link
― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Friday, July 30, 2010 9:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i fucking hate this notion. lyrics and music ARE NOT TWO SEPARATE THINGS. they are fundamentally intertwined.
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 31 July 2010 06:56 (thirteen years ago) link
also the idea of people being uniquely "into lyrics" seems kind of absurd to me.
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 31 July 2010 06:57 (thirteen years ago) link
there's lots of ppl who dont care abt lyrics?
― just sayin, Saturday, 31 July 2010 09:40 (thirteen years ago) link
all i wanna say is that they don't really care about lyrics
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 31 July 2010 09:46 (thirteen years ago) link
naw some of the music's great - fuck it, all of the music's great; the arrangements on the first record are other worldly, the mellotron-rising strings, the jankity faraway fairground sounds, etc; there's a sensitivity and detail akin to the first nico record maybe. they're all such closely recorded, imtimate records, like it's a man's world or something. and there's such gallop to some of them - the partisan, fingerprints, the rowdy ones on love and hate.
anyway: thought this might've been bumped re: bird on a wire, the little seen thought-lost documentary that just got found and is showing again in a couple of weeks (dvd forthcoming etc). my mom saw it at the cinema in the seventies and - i forget whether this is from the docu or from something someone who saw him in concert said - still laughs at the memory of leonard's singers coming on stage to their 'ooooo's, and then leaving the stage until the next oooos.
― baby i know that you think i'm just a lion (schlump), Saturday, 31 July 2010 10:25 (thirteen years ago) link
oooh sweet didn't even know about that, thanks.
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 31 July 2010 11:01 (thirteen years ago) link
also, best comment on leonard's appeal came from the singer out of lamb, appearing in some documentary: "he's like isaac hayes, for poetry girls"
― baby i know that you think i'm just a lion (schlump), Saturday, 31 July 2010 11:05 (thirteen years ago) link
that's a nice opinion, but it's not true; one can reproduce the lyrics of a song on paper, and there you go, the lyrics, all by their lonesome; one can do an instrumental version of a song, and what do you know, the music, a totally separate thing. you can argue that they're best together but your present argument is that there's no such thing as a hot dog or mustard, just a dog with mustard because the flavors intertwine
― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:08 (thirteen years ago) link
of course you could always say "for me, the two are fundamentally intertwined, and it's hard for me to imagine how people don't think of it that way," and who could argue with you there?
― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Saturday, 31 July 2010 14:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Of course most people don't care about lyrics. Consider the fact that the hot new thing is Best Coast, while Simon Joyner probably couldn't sell out an in-store. Even (relatively) popular artists who happen to be excellent lyricists - like Bill Callahan, Will Sheff, Sam Beam, etc - are celebrated more for their eccentricities, their 'style,' or the fact that this song or that song features a harpsichord or, God forbid, has good 'production' (which I'm still convinced most indie fans don't know from 'engineering' anyway).
Sorry for the rant. Leonard Cohen rules, duh.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Saturday, 31 July 2010 16:24 (thirteen years ago) link
Melody is where they intertwine. But Cohen is such a formal poet (other than his actual poetry, which is often free verse) that the lyrics aren't dependent on the specific melody. Never Any Good has great lyrics, is a great "song" from the lyrics alone, but has a crazy arrangement that doesn't serve it well. "A Thousand Kisses Deep" has an identical meter to "Coming Back to You," and so the melodies could be switched on them as well. Once you get into free verse, harder to impose a melody on individual lyrics without changing the "song."
― gato busca pleitos (Eazy), Saturday, 31 July 2010 18:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Consider the fact that the hot new thing is Best Coast, while Simon Joyner probably couldn't sell out an in-store.
these aren't really an ideal comparison, though; simon joyner is not jumpin' electric guitar music excised of the woos and wailing. arguments that discount the lyrical value of 'simple' lyrics blow, ignoring the poetry and articulacy of chuck berry. i think equating 'don't care about lyrics' with 'eschew bill callahan's meditations on faith' is wrong - people get a lot of wisdom and communion out of shangri-las records. if it's that leonard cohen is a guy who writes esoteric meandering verses and doesn't throw a lot of bones to foot-tapping hip-swingers, maybe that's so.
― baby i know that you think i'm just a lion (schlump), Saturday, 31 July 2010 18:12 (thirteen years ago) link
You raise some very good points. I didn't say lyrics need to be meaningful or 'deep' to resonate - "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah' is as good a pop lyric as any, I reckon. My issue is that a lot of contemporary bands barely try, and worse, no one seems to mind. The new Black Keys album would be terrific if it were instrumental, but as it is I can barely enjoy it because it sounds like the lyrics were improvised on the spot. You'll say lyrics aren't the point of Black Keys's specific brand of juke garage blues, and fair enough, but, I mean, these make your average Fat Possum also-ran sound like Balzac.
I guess I just don't see why a band like Best Coast, with all their bone-throwing to foot-tapping hip swingers (who prefer their vocals obscured by cowardly reverb, anyway) can't ALSO feature lyrics as devastatingly great as Simon Joyner's.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Saturday, 31 July 2010 21:17 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIR5ps8usuo
does anyone not want to grow up and be leonard cohen
― Local Christian Blues (schlump), Friday, 28 October 2011 13:46 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_223jKXKgQ
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 26 January 2012 05:07 (twelve years ago) link
p.s. new album is predictably dope as hell.
Meantime:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0413-cohen-verdict-20120413,0,3990744.story
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 13 April 2012 17:35 (twelve years ago) link
oh no biggie, my manager threatens to kill me all the time! come on, leonard.
― tylerw, Friday, 13 April 2012 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
she looks like a GOP lawyer.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 13 April 2012 18:20 (twelve years ago) link
Also: this man is an asshole:
http://www.lowtimespodcast.com/the-insufferable-adam-cohen/
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 13 April 2012 18:26 (twelve years ago) link
Which man, the author or the subject?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 14 April 2012 00:22 (twelve years ago) link
This is brilliant:
http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2012/pc/pod-v-29031207m26stjmsquiz2-pid0-446376_audio.mp3
It's a clip from an LC competition ("Knowin' your Cohen") held on Ireland's RTE 1. The contestants are hopeless.
― Shadrach, Sunday, 15 April 2012 13:43 (twelve years ago) link
Hey how's that Isle of Wight reissue thingy with the DVD? Want it but it's 'spensive
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, 15 April 2012 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
The cd is good - you get the concert in full, with great sound.
The dvd - not so much... It's a standard Murray Lerner botch job. Most of the songs don't appear and those that do are edited down. Instead you get a few dull interview clips (Joan Baez...) and some footage of the festival
― Shadrach, Sunday, 15 April 2012 21:38 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks dude. That sounds about right.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, 15 April 2012 23:55 (twelve years ago) link
seeing leonard tonight at home.
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
You paid the Kickstarter to get him to play your living room?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 November 2012 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
That was, what, $500? Deep pockets!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 November 2012 18:50 (eleven years ago) link
"Hello, I'm Leonard. What do you have in the way of snacks?"
― tylerw, Wednesday, 28 November 2012 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
magnificent live performer
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 19:07 (eleven years ago) link
"Any tea? Oranges even? From China?"
― Big Sambola & The Tailspinners (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 20:51 (eleven years ago) link
Really wanted to ee him in Cicago last week but wasn't around. 3.5 hiur show.
― 2 Chain Pizzas (to go) (Eazy), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 20:53 (eleven years ago) link
That's because he sings very slowly.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 November 2012 21:10 (eleven years ago) link
(sorry for the typos above)
― 2 Chain Pizzas (to go) (Eazy), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 22:37 (eleven years ago) link
3.5 hrs
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Thursday, 29 November 2012 05:21 (eleven years ago) link
how was itother than in length
― absurdly pro-D (schlump), Thursday, 29 November 2012 05:24 (eleven years ago) link
210 minutes
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Thursday, 29 November 2012 05:34 (eleven years ago) link
Does he still recite a couplet from the song he's about to sing before it starts?
― 2 Chain Pizzas (to go) (Eazy), Thursday, 29 November 2012 05:36 (eleven years ago) link
what insights did you gleanabout the soul of a poet
― absurdly pro-D (schlump), Thursday, 29 November 2012 06:03 (eleven years ago) link
― 2 Chain Pizzas (to go) (Eazy), Thursday, November 29, 2012 12:36 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
he did that a bunch, as well as some poetry. it was awesome.
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Thursday, 29 November 2012 15:19 (eleven years ago) link
i love the bootleg where he intros sisters of mercy w/ an improv -- "i love to spend the night with two girlssssss...it's better than one ... and it's better than none."
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 November 2012 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
has he acknowledegd that democracy is not coming to the USA?
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 29 November 2012 15:45 (eleven years ago) link
in a brief powerpoint presentation
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Thursday, 29 November 2012 15:48 (eleven years ago) link
HEH. HEH HEH. THE MONKEY.
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 26 April 2014 05:26 (ten years ago) link
he has a song where he talks about rosicrucianism and it was the only place or time or association i have with that word and then last weekend i was reading something and it mentioned rosicrucians ('money', maybe? now i cant remember where) and i was caught off-guard, i think i half-thought leonard cohen had made them up
― dude (Lamp), Saturday, 26 April 2014 07:16 (ten years ago) link
they can give you back your hope
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 26 April 2014 07:47 (ten years ago) link
recent songs is a masterpiece, I am a little in love tbh, what an amazing album that I have overlooked for all these years
― marcos, Friday, 27 March 2015 01:07 (nine years ago) link
this is has been one of several nights recently when I have gotten a little drunk and put on some leonard cohen and marvel at the man
― marcos, Friday, 27 March 2015 01:09 (nine years ago) link
"The Window," "Ballad of the Absent Mare," and the rest. It's really the bridge between his early style and his mature style.
― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Friday, 27 March 2015 01:23 (nine years ago) link
In the sleevenotes of this album Cohen thanks his mother, "for reminding me of the kind of music she loved before she died"
― sexpost TMIing! (wins), Friday, 27 March 2015 01:30 (nine years ago) link
tonite is i'm your man and various positions, these are so amazing despite their imperfections, the title track on im your man and everybody knows and then dance me to th end of love are just so perfect
― marcos, Saturday, 28 March 2015 01:19 (nine years ago) link
oh shit and then coming back to you
― marcos, Saturday, 28 March 2015 01:28 (nine years ago) link
everything is all so good, wow leonard you've been there all along and I've finally noticed
― marcos, Saturday, 4 April 2015 23:41 (nine years ago) link
:-)
― Finn McCoolit (wins), Sunday, 5 April 2015 01:11 (nine years ago) link
when I saw him the 2nd time in london he had a few various positions songs in his set inc. night comes on!
marcos if you haven't already you need to hear the field commander cohen album
― Finn McCoolit (wins), Sunday, 5 April 2015 01:14 (nine years ago) link
it is my desert island album probably
― Finn McCoolit (wins), Sunday, 5 April 2015 01:19 (nine years ago) link
me + a couple of friends discovered i'm your man in high school and our callow instinct was to mock it (keyboards, 80s production, intensely serious vocals, this waltz this waltz this waltz this waltz) and put it on 4 lulz etc., but as time passed we realized we were listening to it all the time. it's the best. you know you can. i like its disreputable moments too (you can imagine how much i liked them then). turtle meat.
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 5 April 2015 01:26 (nine years ago) link
(was also obsessed at the time w "don't go home with your hard-on" -- this is a pretty sour song, in retrospect, isn't it, like contemporary dylan. what happened to arty singer-songwriters in the late 70s? just divorce? at least this has the grace iirc to also sound as sour as possible.)
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 5 April 2015 01:31 (nine years ago) link
Progress with Cohen was:
- Reading Suzanne in the Norton Anthology of Poetry in high school- "Everybody Knows" in Pump Up The Volume- "Ain't No Cure for Love" in Love at Large- Buying a ticket last-minute to see him in 1993, knowing only those two songs. Still probably my epiphany concert of any.- Ending up living in Montreal on a study grant, finding he has novels in addition to the rest. Devouring everything except Death of a Ladies Man, which I still haven't heard.
― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Sunday, 5 April 2015 01:49 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG9zED01DuA
― tender is the late-night daypart (schlump), Sunday, 5 April 2015 02:32 (nine years ago) link
"Paper Thin Hotel" is one of my fave lyrics ever
― fuck me, archipelago (Simon H.), Sunday, 5 April 2015 03:37 (nine years ago) link
lately new skin has been the favorite
― marcos, Monday, 20 April 2015 23:44 (nine years ago) link
"New Skin" remains the ultimate! Was at a Newbury Comics on Sunday & an employee was playing it straight through, which was so unexpected & awesome.
Has been one of my favorite albums ever for 20 or so years. They're all great but "Field Commander Cohen" has always struck a nerve.
― Wally P. Doyle, Thursday, 5 September 2019 06:33 (four years ago) link
NYers, last weekend for this
https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/exhibitions/leonard-cohen-a-crack-in-everything
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 5 September 2019 11:27 (four years ago) link
Loved this show ^^.
― ... (Eazy), Thursday, 5 September 2019 12:39 (four years ago) link
FWIW I really disliked the show. I think I just can't with art shows about musicians. It felt overly worshipful or something -- I didn't find anything all that engaging on its own merits in an artistic sense, the whole thing was just "WOW LEONARD COHEN GENIUS WOW." Although the thing with the mens choir was sort of fun.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
was it the Conspiracy of Beards? (there can't be more than one all-Leonard Cohen men's choir...)
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:18 (four years ago) link
i thought it was mediocre too
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 September 2019 17:56 (four years ago) link
xp no it was a video installation that included the mens choir from his synagogue on one screen and then a bunch of rando fans who I think responded to an ad on other screens in a different room
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 12 September 2019 18:02 (four years ago) link
The best part of this show was the room with the slideshow of his self-portraits.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 14 September 2019 01:32 (four years ago) link
If you ever visit L.A. you can easily track down his old apartment here, the one where he was photographed on the front lawn for the cover of Old Ideas. I believe that apartment is where he passed away.
― omar little, Saturday, 14 September 2019 01:35 (four years ago) link
1033 S Tremaine Ave is the address.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 14 September 2019 02:17 (four years ago) link
my w1fe, who adored him, is bummed that she never knew he lived only three blocks away from her during her time living on Mansfield Ave at 8th St.
― omar little, Saturday, 14 September 2019 02:32 (four years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/news/new-leonard-cohen-album-thanks-for-the-dance-announced-listen-to-the-goal/
― dow, Friday, 20 September 2019 15:49 (four years ago) link
already get the feeling from that short tune that it feels weird/wrong to consider it a "Leonard Cohen album"
― Simon H., Saturday, 21 September 2019 16:27 (four years ago) link
dud
― lumen (esby), Saturday, 21 September 2019 16:33 (four years ago) link
you're a dud
― The Ravishing of ROFL Stein (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 21 September 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link
with due respect
He's good!.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 October 2019 06:16 (four years ago) link
Best mismatched inner sleeve EVER? pic.twitter.com/h0aS9K6g3B— Laurie’s Planet of Sound (@lauriespos) November 9, 2019
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 9 November 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
Lol
― Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 November 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link
I can picture Roger Sterling picking up both those records for his pad in 1972.
― file of unknown origin (bendy), Saturday, 9 November 2019 23:13 (four years ago) link
fuck New Skin For Old Ceremony is just devastating
― Suggest Banshee (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 10 November 2019 22:23 (four years ago) link
so many good lines on "Happens to the Heart", album out todayhttps://open.spotify.com/track/2DkpoHJ1h88e9dyc6SFIm2?si=MHmybq37SN-uG5U0iWNIQw
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 22 November 2019 10:10 (four years ago) link
new album is wonderful
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Friday, 22 November 2019 10:36 (four years ago) link
Ranking his openers!
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 October 2020 05:11 (three years ago) link
You Want it Darker is such a perfect opener.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2020 12:21 (three years ago) link
I knew this thread had to exist. To me, he is THE classic, but he is definitely not for everyone--which makes him even more of a classic.
― jimbeaux, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 20:08 (two years ago) link
He might not be for everyone, en toto, but everyone likes at least something he's done. Like, who really besides him and Mariah Carey have had a song become a standard in the last few decades?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 20:13 (two years ago) link
They do, but most often when it's done by someone else. Everyone loves the Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah, even though it's missing an entire stanza.
― jimbeaux, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link
Dylan's Make You Feel My Love probably goes in there too, some big ass versions of that
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, 19 January 2022 23:47 (two years ago) link
I wasn't a big Leonard Cohen fan (of his own recordings that is) until I got the DVD Live in London. IIRC the audio is exactly the same as what was used for the CD of the same name, but I usually prefer live DVD's over CD's. Charmed the hell out of me, it sent me back to his earlier albums, but except for his debut and I'm Your Man, I had mixed feelings about how most of those albums were recorded, so the live DVD is still my favorite Cohen release. I also loved how his music was used in McCabe and Mrs. Miller, probably my favorite Altman film.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 20 January 2022 17:38 (two years ago) link
I was lucky enough to see him before he died, back in 2013. It was, and remains, the single best show I've ever been to. When he played "Famous Blue Raincoat," which is my favorite song, to start his second encore I felt that my concert going career was complete. Everything after is gravy.
And yes, seeing him live was another level from listening to his albums.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 January 2022 17:55 (two years ago) link
Agreed: Live In London is my favourite Cohen release, his Manchester Opera Show performance in the first week of his comeback tour is my favourite gig of all time, and the DVD is a wonderful record of the same tour.
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 20 January 2022 19:00 (two years ago) link
Everyone loves the Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah, even though it's missing an entire stanza.
Never heard it. I've heard about a dozen other versions of it though.
― Someone left a space telescope out in the rain (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 January 2022 22:26 (two years ago) link
I love cohen to the point that I have two Leonard-related prints in my flat, but speaking of that London gig (which I attended!) the fact that he was packing stadia at the end of his career shows that he was pretty well rated for a not-for-everyone fellow
― Nerd Ragequit (wins), Thursday, 20 January 2022 22:48 (two years ago) link
Everyone has a Phil Spector story.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 January 2022 23:01 (two years ago) link
xp totally! Also Cohen returning to live performance due to his shitbag manager spending all of his money may be the greatest case of turning lemons into lemonade in rock history.
― birdistheword, Friday, 21 January 2022 04:44 (two years ago) link
Those comeback shows were too smooth and Vegas-y for my liking. There were too many band introductions and too much scripted patter. I was lucky enough to see him in the 1980s and 1990s, which were much rawer and off-the-cuff affairs.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 21 January 2022 07:59 (two years ago) link
Love Cohen, but would gladly never hear Hallelujah again
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 21 January 2022 08:09 (two years ago) link
Anyone see "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song," 2021 movie doc . I have not yet. Just curious about
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 June 2022 14:59 (one year ago) link
I have not but they're screening it at Film Forum in NYC and I believe Alan Light and Larry "Ratso" Sloman are doing separate discussion/Q&A's for it.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:06 (one year ago) link
Had not heard of that, thanks!"Hallelujah" has been used in too many already-weepy scenes on TV, and is frequently over-sung, seems like. My favorite version is Willie Nelson's, where he seems to be thinking out loud:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58UjoiSP2wM
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:10 (one year ago) link
Think he also does "Tower of Song" on his new alb, which I haven't heard yet---here's my fave cover of that, by Marianne Faithfull:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS_zzwLgTbE
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:13 (one year ago) link
Stone cold "Famous Blue Raincoat"---this live rendition, from Living (1971), has been stuck in my head for most of my life, and will see me out, no doubt
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:17 (one year ago) link
Damn, sorry!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE6e9n1HuuM
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:18 (one year ago) link
classic voice, classic dictionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVp8JlT1oo0
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 28 July 2022 09:28 (one year ago) link
this Blue Note tribute looks promising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaKR_4S5O7U
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 29 July 2022 11:57 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugh8Xe6hX7U2009 interview so good
― calstars, Monday, 1 May 2023 22:43 (one year ago) link